Elevator



Nov. 192%.

1,514,545; S.LANKHEET ELEVATOR 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 7,

ATTORNEY;

New, 4 1%. 1,514,545

5. LANKHEET ELEVATOR Filed July :7, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. 529N057? L FNMA 5 7' ATTORNEY.

Patented Nov. 4, 1924.

Mire

SANDER LANKHEET, O15 HAMILTON, MICHIGAN.

ELEVATOR.

Application filed July 7,

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, SANDER LANKHEET, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hamilton, in the county of Allegan and State of Michigan, have invented new and useful Improvements in Elevators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to elevators, and an object of the invention is to provide an elevator which will effectively grip material or articles to be raised, and will automatically release them when reaching the delivery point.

Another object of this invention is to pro vide a comparatively simple, light, portable and durable elevator structure particularly designed for elevating grain, wheat, grain bundles, or analogous articles.

A further object of the invention is to provide, in an elevator structure, an endless belt with which suitable grasping means or carriers cooperate, the said carriers moving into retaining position relative to the belt during their upward movement and moving into delivery position when the delivery end of the belt or conveyor is reached.

Other objects of the invention will appear in the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the improved elevator having parts broken away.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan of the elevator structure.

Fig. 3 is a detail section on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an elevation of a support for the upper end of the elevator structure.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a modified form of the invention.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan of the modified form.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary and elevation of the modified form.

Fig. 8 is a section on the line 88 of Fig.

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary edge elevation of the supporting structure for the elevator.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the improved elevator structure comprisesa portable carriage or truck structure 1, designed to permit ease of transportation of the improved elevator structure. An upright 2 rises from the rear end of the truck structure 1 and it has an elevator beam 3 1922. Serial No. 573,344.

pivotally connected thereto asshown at 4. A pair of sprockets 5 are rotatably supported upon suitable stub shafts at the lower end of the elevator beam 3 and an endless elevator or belt structure comprising sprocket chains 6 travels over the sprockets 5 and over the sprockets 6. In the drawings, the upper most sprockets 6are shown as carried by a hanger 7 The hanger 7 has suitable attaching clips 8 carried thereby by means of which it may be supported from any suitable support, particularly adapting theelevator structure for use in barns, storage cribs, or the like; however, it is to be understood that the upper sprockets may be carried by the upper end of the elevator beam 3, if desired and the hanger 7 eliminated, without departing from the spirit of this invention. Suitable idler sprockets 9 and wheels 10 are provided for preventing sagging of the lower runs of the endless chains 6. Sprockets 11 are carried by a power shaft 12 and mesh with the chains 6 for driving the elevator structure, it being understood that power may be applied to the shaft 12 in any suitable manner. Cross rods 13 and'14 are carried by the chains 6 at spaced points and baskets 15, of any suitable material are pivotally connected to the cross rods 13 and have spring rods 16 connected thereto which are in turn loosely connected by suitable couplings 17 to the cross rods 14. The spring rods 16 are coiled about the cross rods 13 as clearly shown at 18 in Fig. 2 of the drawings for urging the open sides of the basket 15 against the flexible platforms 19 which are carried by the chains 6v at the proper spaced points so that during the upward and downward travel of the respective baskets their contents will be. prevented from spilling out of the baskets. In operation, when a basket 15 is traveling. downwardly with the lower run of the endless belt or chain 6, the open side of the basket will be against its respective flexible platform 19 and as the cross rod 13 reaches the sprocket 5 the basket will extend tangentially from the sprocket as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings for scooping up the contents from the receiving hopper 20 and as the basket passes the sprockets 5, it will be swung into; position over its respective platform 19 by the movement of the cross rod 14 about the sprocket and by the action of the resilient convolutions 18 thereby preventingthe spilling of the contents of the basket during its upward travel. WVhen the basket reaches the uppermost sprocket '6', it will again move tangentially to these sprockets owing to the rigidity of the rod 16, moving again into closed position as it goes downwardly with the downwardly traveling run of the elevator structure.

An extension support structure 25 is provided for supporting the elevator beam 3 iii-adjusted positions and its support structureismoreclearly sh-own inFig. 9 of the drawings. The support structure 25 comprises 'an'upper'support 26 which is pivot- 15 ally connected as shown at 27 to the elevator beam 3 and a lower-support 28 which is pivotally: connected as shown at 29, to the track 1 inthe preferred form ofthe elevator and to the supporting. structure in the modified form to be hereinafter described. The upper andlower supports'26 .and 28 have their meeting endslying in abutting engagement with each otherzand a suitable strap 30 is v. carried by the'lo'wer end of the upper support 26 and engages about the upper end of thel'owertsuppo'rt 28,.while a corresponding strapr31 is carried by the upper end of the lower support 28 and engages .about the upper support 26. Block structures 32 are carried by each of these straps 30 and 31 andthey are connected, by suitable ropes or cables--33 forming a block and tackle structure operable by the operating rope 34 for adjusting the relative positions of the upperlowersupports 26 and 28 and consequently regulating the length of the extension support structure 25. It is understood that the weight of the elevator structure, upon the bars 26 and 28 causes a slight lateral 'or' transverse strain which causes fricti -nal engagement of the abutting endsot thebars 26 and-28 suflicient to prevent accidental relative movement of these bars.

lnjFigsuti to 8 inclusive a modified form of the elevator structure is shown, in which skids 40 are utilized in'lieu of the truck structure 1. 'The skids 40 are pointed as shown 'at41 so that they may be ,driven beneatha stack of grain or the like to, prevent their-interferingwith the wagon load from which the material being. stacked is pitched upon. the elevator structure. The skids 40 haverja baseboard 42 carried thereby from which a; post 43 .rises. An extension support 44 similar in construction 'to the exten sion. support structure 25 isconnected .to the base boardf'42 and tothe elevator beam 45 in any :approved manner. The elevator beam"'45 supports endless belts 46 which travel aboutsuitable pulleys 47 and 48 and carry the bundle grippers 49, each of which comprises a substantially U-shaped member.50having its legs coiled about a cross rod'51carried by the belts or chains 46 and shaped 'to provide a bundle gripping portion 52 which is adapted to grip a bundle and hold it tightly against the-upwardly traveling run of the conveyor structure 46. The legs ot' the grippers 49 extend slidably through suitable guides 53 pivotally connected to a cross bar 54 so that as the bundle gripping portions 52 reach the terminal of the upper run they will project tangentially to "the guiding pulleys 48 and permit the bundle or material which has been gripped by the grippers to be deposited upon a stack. When the'grippers are at thelower portion of the lower run they extend transversely to the conveyor structure 46, as clearly shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings having their bight or gripping portions 52 projecting upwardly for engaging a bundle of grain, hay or the like and taking it off thesupport 56 and carrying it upwardly with the upper run of the elevator. As theguiding bar 54 of the respective grippers '49 passes about the lower pulleys 4'? the bight portion 52 will be rocked and moved inwardly towards the conveyor 46 for gripping the bundle of grain, or the like between the gripping portion 52 and. the conveyor.

The conveyor structure is supported for pivotal movement on a horizontal axis, by means of a shaft 57 which shaft 57 is bent to provide a vertical portion 58. The shaft 57 is rotatably mounted upon the post 43 to permit the elevator structure to be swungabout a vertical axis. The shat't'57, has a sleeve 60 rotatably mounted thereon upon which a driving pulley 61 is mounted. The driving pulley 61 is adapted to have connection by means of a belt 62 with a power supplying pulley 63 which i'nay be rotatable from any suitable source of power. The pulley 61 is keyed upon theslecve 60 for rotating the sleeve and the sleeve is in turn connected to the shaft 64 uponwhich the pulleys 47 are mounted by means of sprockets 65 and a sprocket chain 66 which permits operation of the conveyor structure 46 -regardless of the relative location of the elevator structure and the supporting post-.43.

Suitable braces as shown at 68 may be provided for bracing the elevator structure and cooperating with the extension support structure 44. a

It is, of course, to be understood that the invention may be constructed in other manners and the parts associated in different relations and, therefore,v I do not desire to be limited in any manner except as set forth in the claims hereunto appended.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

1. In an elevator, an endless conveyor, a plurality of article carrying members pivotally connected to said conveyor intermediate their ends, said carrying members including relatively long leg portions, means connecting said leg portion with said endless conveyor to move said carrying memhere into article receiving position at the lower end of the conveyor, and to move the carrying members into article gripping position with relation to the conveyor during their upward travel, said carrying members adapted to release an article or articles upon reaching the upper terminal of the conveyor, and supporting members carried by said conveyor, said carrying members adapted to clamp material being elevated against said supporting members during upward travel of the carrying members.

2. In an elevator, an endless conveyor, a plurality of article carriers pivotally connected to said conveyor intermediate their ends, said carriers comprising relatively long leg portions, means connecting said leg portion with said endless conveyor to move said carriers into article receiving position at the lower end of the conveyor, and to move the carriers into article gripping position with relation to the conveyor during their upward travel, said carriers adapted to release material upon reaching the upper terminal of the conveyor, supporting members carried by said conveyor, said carriers adapted to clamp material being elevated against said supporting members during upward travel of the carriers, and an extensible support connected to said elevator structure.

3. In an elevator, an endless conveyor, a plurality of article carriers pivotally con nected to said conveyor intermediate their ends, said carriers including relatively long leg portions, means connectin said leg portion with said endless conveyor to move said carriers into article receiving position at the lower end of the conveyor, and to move the carriers into article gripping position with relation to the conveyor during their upward travel, said carriers adapted to release articles upon reaching the upper terminal of the conveyor, supporting members carried by said conveyor, said carriers adapted to clamp articles being elevated against said supporting members during upward travel of the carriers.

4. In an elevator, an endless conveyor, a plurality of article carriers pivotally connected to said conveyor intermediate their ends, said carriers including relatively long leg portions, means connecting said leg portion with said endless conveyor to move said carriers into article receiving position at the lower end of the conveyor, and to move the relation to the conveyor during their upward travel, said carriers adapted to release articles upon reaching the upper terminal of the conveyor, supporting members carried by said conveyor, said carriers adapted to clamp articles being elevated against said supporting members during upward travel of the carriers, and an extensible support connected to said elevator structure.

5. In an elevator, an endless conveyor, a plurality of article carriers pivotally connected to said conveyor intermediate their ends, said carriers including relatively long leg portions, means connecting said leg portion with said endless conveyor to move said carriers into article receiving position at the lower end of the conveyor, and to move the carriers into article gripping position with relation to the conveyor during their upward travel, said carriers adapted to release articles upon reaching the upper terminal of the conveyor, and supporting members carried by said conveyor, said carriers adapted to clamp articles being elevated against said supporting members during upward travel of the carriers, and said endless conveyor adapted to travel about upper and lower sets of movers.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

SANDER LANKHEET.

carriers into article gripping position with 

